Anyone had neck dissection surgery? What are your tips?

The neck dissection was not the hardest part of my surgery, so really the other issues obscured that part. Swallowing was a little hard but more due to the facial paralysis effects on my tongue than the neck dissection. I was eating soft food 3 days later, only delayed by my nausea from pain meds. I did a lot of treatment to the incision with scar meds afterward, like Mederma, and did some stretching exercises suggested. The dry mouth issue is the only ongoing one, and there are plenty of treatments for that to help. I am using Biotene xylitol tablets currently and that gets me through most nights.

This is very helpful - !!! Did you have a flap performed with your surgery?

I initially had this throat cancer in 2020 and had the full radiaiton treatments and chemo. Now that it has come back, I cannot do radiation again, plus it will now complicate the surgery. First I must have a lung biopsy, as something is going on in my lungs. We hope it is simply inflammation.

I hope you are doing well, I had exactly the same treatment as you.. only many years before... year 2000. for me the surgery was not bad, it was the effects of radiation,,, after 22 years, I still have extreme difficulty swallowing food due to very little saliva. I have learned to live with it .. Need to take many supplements to make up for what nutrients I cannot ingest orally ... I did have three feeding tubes during this time and now I can drink what I used to put in the feeding tubes. X-rays shows I have a shrunken stomach so my intake is very small amounts several times a day. I truly hope you are doing better than I since your surgery was 20 years after mine. take care

No, there was no flap. I can't help you about that.

My mother has a neck bisection? In 1989 with MD Anderson in Houston and she’s 83 . As someone earlier said MD Anderson.

I had a neck dissection for removal of a squamous cell cancer of the parotid this year. Now undergoing proton beam therapy to the area. I realize that proton beam therapy is relatively new, but does anyone have experience regarding the long-term consequences of proton beam therapy? Are they different than the long term effects of X-ray or photon beam therapy?

Hi,
I was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma in two lymph nodes in March and had the radical neck dissection where they removed all 42 lymph nodes, areas 1-5, nothing else, on July 3, 2024.
Still recovering, my right shoulder has been compromised BIG TIME , neck is tight and the swelling is almost gone. I am grateful they got all what they were looking for and that at this moment I have no cancer.

Now I wonder how my body will respond in the long term, living without the 42 nodes ?

Hello @toddrap. That must have been a massive surgery. It sounds like you are healing well. Was your melanoma on your head or neck? Your question sounds like a valid one for your surgeon. Have they suggested any physical therapy for you? I wonder how much the lymphatic drainage will be maintained by the normal side of your neck? My neck dissection involved fewer nodes and the superficial parotid gland and I have only a dry mouth to deal with 12 years later.

Hi there. I had a modified radical neck dissection years ago. All lymph nodes removed on left side. Just prior to surgery I had an accessory nerve repair, damaged while removing a simple non malignant lump (fat). This is how they discovered my thyroid cancer. I would imagine you will have physio and home exercises. After all this time, if I skip a day with my exercises I’ll be very stiff. Questions to ask: were they able to save your accessory nerve? It the supply for largest upper body muscle, the trapezius and can cause a lot of problems because there is lack of muscle support, lifting, reaching etc.
Best of luck. You are very early and I’m sure you are in good hands. 💕